Railway switch



Sept.21, 1937. 2,093,643 LOUIS-EUGENE-WIDOLT MONTROSE-OSTER I RAILWAY SWITCH 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed June 22, 1931 Sept-21,1937.

. 2,093,643 LOUlS-EUGENE-WIDOLT MONTROSE-OSTER RAILWAY SWITCH Filed June 22, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .siwwmmmm Patented Sept. 21, 1937 wasn- RAILWAY SWITCH Louis-Eugene-Widolt Montrose-Oster, Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia, assignor to Pollopas Patents Limited, London, England Application June 22, 1931, Serial nasiaooo In Germany June 24,- 1930 6 claims. (01. 246227) This invention relates to railway switches and more particularly to a novel locking system for railway switches which system, as-known, may be used 'in connection with electrically controlled switches which are travelled upon .by trains equipped with a plurality of trolley-wheels.

Locking systems ior railway switches of the aforementioned kindordinarily comprise a con tact apparatus which may be controlled from two points to open and close the electric circuit which operates-the actuating mechanism for the railway switch. Thesolenoid which is used in this case for opening the electric circuit is actuated by a special contact interrupting device positionedin the rear of the compound contact, this special contact consequently efiecting the locking of the railway switch, the solenoid which serves for closing the circuit being energized bya-further contact made subsequent to said former contact. In this manner the actuating mechanism for the railway switch will again be unlocked.

My new system of-locking railway switches which comprises only three small relays of very simple design positively prevents unlocking of railway switches and locks :the switch automatically even in case one of the electric conduits leading to the locking device is interrupted or in caseof some other trouble arising in connection with any of the operating members of the system. In consequence of this mynew'locking system permits throwing of the railway switch only by hand, while. throwing of said switch by means of the electric control circuit will be positively rendered impossible.

In the accompanying drawings which form part of this specification Fig. l is a diagram of connections showing my new *locking system for railway switches in'condition during which there is no trolley-wheel positioned within the track to be protected, Fig. 2 a view, partly in section, of

. a differential switch used in connection with my invention and Figs. 3 and 4 some detail views taken along lines IIIIII and Iv -IV, respectively..

For the sake of clearness the known part of the system for throwing railway switches is shown in Fig. 1 in heavy lines, while the locking system proper which forms part of my present invention is shownin thin lines. In the drawings A, B and C designate three small relays of the aforementioned simple design, F and. F the release "contacts and J the aforementioned differential electric switch which may eventually be 'used. Besides, the drawings show fuses, conductors and two resistances which may be inserted in the operating circuit, and the railway track. The direction of travel of the train or cars is indicated in the: drawings by an arrow.

7 In order to normally actuate the railway switch there is used a compound contact GK which consists of an overhead wire member insulated from the remaining overhead wire and passed by the working current for the car or cars and of a second member which normally is out of contact with the overhead wire, but connected thereto by a trolley wheel when passing said. contact. In this manner said second member may be put under tensiond As the relay A is closed in the condition of the system shown in the drawings, a trolley-wheel running within the compound contact G, K will energize one of the magnets N1 or N2, which form part of, the electrical control apparatus of the system. However, at the. moment when the contact K is under tension, the relay B which is permanently connected with the trolley-wire through a resistance b, by way of ,7 will be under the same tension also at the end 0 of its solenoid d-.-c, thus causing said relay to be de-energized. The relay B in. de-energized condition also causes the relayC which is connected to the tension of the trolley-wire by way of e ,to be supplied with current at its otherend (1, thus, deenergizing said latter relay. C. The relay A on the other hand now is directly energized by way of the armature of relay Band will therefore keep its, armature attracted. At the moment when relay B will again be energized at the same moment, the end 0 of its solenoid cZ-c to, ground being grounded so that it will again attract its armature. The two relays A and C are therefore de- -energized and the operating mechanism forthe railway switch is automaticallylocked against being thrown.

Further trolley-wheels passing the compound contact GK will consequently not be able to exert any control on the operating mechanism for the switch. i I 7 v If the first trolley-wheel of the train of cars locks the switch actuating mechanism and the last trolley-wheel releases said mechanism, there will be a shorter distance between the switch actuating contact and the release contact, a socalled differential switch as shown in Fig. 2 bee ing used for this purpose. This differential switch consists of an ordinary full differential gearing 20 mounted within a casing 2|. The middle member 22 of the differential gearing in a certain position cooperates with the feeler 32 and thus closes the two contacts at 23. In every other position of said member 22, however, the connection between said two contacts at 23' is interrupted. The two switching pawls 26 and 21 which co-operate with the ratchet wheels 33 and 34 are actuated and put under tension by the electro-magnets 28 and 29, respectively, one terminal 30 and 3! of each coil of the electro-magnets being connected to ground. The other terminal m of the coil of the electro-magnet 28 is connected to the conductor I, while the other terminal m of the coil of the electro-magnet 29 is connected to the conductor 5.

In case, therefore, such a relay J is present as an additional apparatus, a trolley passing the compound contact GK, in addition to'the aforementioned effects, will energize the electro-magnet 28 by way of the terminal m, that is said electro-magnet 28 will attract its armature 26, thereby operating the difierential gearing 2U'(according to Fig. 3 in clockwise sense), thus causing displacement of the middle member 22, thereof, downward motion of the feeler 32 together with its holder and opening of the contact 23'. Although a second trolley belonging to the same train can now no more exert any action upon the switch operating mechanism, as had above been described, said second trolley will give an impulse analogous to the impulse just described, causing further displacement of the movable member 22. This member 22, therefore, will be moved such a number of units ofi its middle position as there are trolleys passing in succession the compound contact GK.

As soon as the first trolley-wheel comes in contact with one of the release contacts F or F the relays C and A connected in series with each other will attract their armatures, the armature of the relay C establishing a stick contact by way oi 2 2 e and 3. By this the armatures of the two relays A and C will remain attracted and in circuit thus unlocking the operating mechanism for the switch permitting again throwing Similar impulses are now given by each trolley when passing said release contact; at the moment where the electro-magnet 29 has been given as many impulses as had formerly been given to the electro-magnet 28, said electro-magnet 29 will have rotated back the differential system by a like number of units as it had formerly been rotated forward by the electro-magnet 28. .At this mo- .ment the movable member 22 of the differential .relay again assumes its middle position shown in Figs. 2 and 4, thereby closing the contact 23', in consequence whereof the contact F or F which had been put under tension by the last trolley of a train will now simultaneously transmit tension past the now closed contact 23' and the lead 5 to the terminal Z of the relay C to again release the operating mechanism for the railway switch.

The difierential switch J, therefore, represents a kind of counting mechanism by which operation of the switch and the locking of the switch operating mechanism is effected by the first trolley of a train, when passing the compound contact GK, while unlocking of said switch operating mechanism is effected by the last trolley of a train passing the release contact F or F. It will thus be possible to place the release contacts F and F very near the compound contact GK which contacts otherwise would have to be arranged at least at a distance equal to the length of the longest train in the railway system.

The diagram given in Fig. 1 shows clearly that each interruption in any of the connections of the system orany trouble arising at the solenoid of a relay and any de-energizing of a relay concomitant therewith will immediately effect automatic locking of the railway switch. By reason of this throwing of the railway switch by means of the electric control circuits and the control apparatus forming part thereof will be positively prevented.

By my present invention, therefore, there is provided an absolutely reliable automatically operating locking system for electrically controlled railway switches by means of very simple and small relays.

I claim:

I 1. An automatic locking system for electrically operated railway switches, said system comprising a track-switch, electro-magnetic operating means for said track-switch, a trolley-wire, a plurality of trolley-Wheels at a distance from each other and co-operative with said trolleywire, a release-contact and a compound contact inserted in said trolley-wire, said electro-magnetic means including a main relay interposed between' said compound contact and operating magnets forming part of said electro-magnetic means, a further relay associated with said main relay with the coils of both relays connected in series, a third relay co-operative with the aforesaid two relays to connect the contact of said first with the coil of said last relay for causing said main relay to drop its armature and to render thereby inoperative said electro-magnetic operating means as soon as the first of said trolley-wheels after having operated said trackswitch leaves said compound contact, said electro-magnetic means being thus prevented from being actuated by another of said trolley-wheels during passage of said first trolley-wheel through the distance between said compound contact and said release-contact.

2. An automatic locking system for electrically operated railway switches as specified by claim 1', including a differential switch inserted into a connection which is branched off the release contact, said differential switch including two coils, one connected to the compound contact and the other to the release contact in a manner to permit locking and releasing of said railway switch by the first and last trolley wheel, respectively.

serted between the compound contact and the operating magnets to prevent the latter against being acted upon by further trolleys subsequent to the first trolley.

4. An automatic locking system for electrically operated railway switches as specified by claim 1, including a circuit branched ofi the trolley wire for continuously energizing the second relay by 7 5 said trolley Wire, and control connections between the second, first and third relay to energize both, said first and said third relay by the said circuit and stick contacts on said third relay.

5. An automatic locking system for electrically operated railway switches as specified by claim 1, including connections adapted to apply trolleyvoltage to each terminal of the second relay when a trolley is on the compound contact, so as to shunt out said second relay and close connec- 10 tions to hold up said first relay andto maintain it in this condition and to apply trolley-voltage to the second terminal of said third relay and shunt it out and to remove feed for the first relay only when a trolley has left the compound con- 15 tact, so that said third and first relay will remain in de-energized condition until a trolley wheel comes on the release contact and so that said thirdand first relay will be again energized to establish the original connections.

6. An automatic locking system for electrically operated railway switches as specified by claim 1,

including connections adapted to de-energize the.

third relay and therewith also said first relay during troubles arising anywhere so that the entire system will be inoperative by the first relay dropping its armature and therewith interrupting themain connection between the compound contact and the track switch operating solenoids permitting only manual operation of the railway switch until said troubles have been removed and the first trolley has come in contact with one of said release contacts and again put said system into condition ready for operation by energizing said third relay.

LOUIS-EUGENE-W'IDOLT MONTROSE-OSTER. 

